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Skirmish at Shirakawa
Initial Engagement The town of Shirakawa was first attacked by Covenant forces coming down the highway through the mountain valley leading from their landing point in the city of Toyama in the north at 830 hours local time on October 23rd, 2552. The attack began with an air raid by several Banshee attack aircraft, which made strafing runs on the UNSC infantry positions, destroying all four Warthogs, destroying the evac Pelicans on the ground, and killing about 20 UNSC troops, although an UNSC soldier armed with an M41 missile launcher managed to shoot down one of the attacking Banshees. It was at about this time that Keiichi Ryukishi and Rena Sonozaki fled the village from the mountains west of town. After the air raid came a force of Covenant troops delivered via Phantom, supported by Wraiths and Revenants. The Sanghieli assaulted the UNSC defenses, quickly taking them with thier armored support, at a cost of 20 Sanghieli, 42 Unggoy, 31 Kig-Yar, 2 Revenants, and a Wraith. The Covenant forces then proceeded to attack the civilians stranded at the evac points in the town's Shinto shrine and elementary school. Some of the civilians fought back, grabbing weapons from fallen UNSC troops, killing four Elites, ten Grunts, and seven Jackals before they were overrun and massacred. Few UNSC troops and civilians escaped, with those who did mostly being hunted down and killed by Covenant forces. Escape of Keiichi Ryukishi and Rena Sonozaki For a detailed account, see RP:Dwindling Flame. For the next three days after the massacre of the citizens of Shirakawa, Keiichi Ryukishi and Rena Sonozaki observed the routines of the occupying Covenant and planned their escape. At 127 hours local time, Keiichi and Rena slipped out of the mountains west of town and re-entered the village, creeping between the historic thatched houses the town of Shirakawa was known for. Keiichi and Rena ambushed a couple of the Kig Yar in one of the houses and bludgeoned one of them to death with a baseball bat and stabbed and hacked the other to death with a machete, claiming a Needler and a Beam Rifle from the dead aliens. The two survivors then proceeded to launch a hit-and-run attack on an Unggoy methane tent with a Molotov cocktail, before retreating into the evac point at the elementary school. In the school, the two survivors witnessed the savagery the Covenant had inflicted on the civilians of the village, including Satoko Sonozaki, Rena's younger sister. Keiichi and Rena were met in the school by Sanghieli Ultra Xydr 'Yacharee, an Elite known for brutality rivaling that of the Jiralhanae. 'Yacharee taunted Sonozaki, revealing that he had killed Satoko. Rena challenged the Elite to personal combat with his energy shield deactivated. 'Yacharee agree, and drew his energy sword, only to have Rena throw her machete at him. The Elite instictively blocked the blow, melting the machete blade and catching a face-full of molten steel, causing 'Yacharee to drop his sword in pain. Sonozaki stole the Elite's energy sword and disembowled and dismembered him. After Sonozaki killed the Elite, Keiichi and Rena fled the town, traveling east through the woods on the side of a mountain, towards the UNSC lines.